


Signs Of a Leader

by tyomawrites



Series: The Signs Series [3]
Category: Dragons: Race to the Edge (Cartoon), Dragons: Riders of Berk (Cartoon), DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon)
Genre: Attempted Kidnapping, Attempted Murder, Bad Decisions, Dubious Consent, Emotional Manipulation, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Graphic Description, Multi, Substance Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-12 23:13:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14737598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tyomawrites/pseuds/tyomawrites





	Signs Of a Leader

Bragi nervously pressed his hand against Viggo’s side as the hunters progressed with relocating the Submaripper into the Straits of Baldur, the dragon seemed entirely too powerful and despite Viggo and Ryker’s knowledge of it he couldn’t feel at ease at being on the ship with them. The older hunter turned towards him, free hand grasping his own for a moment, rubbing his thumb across the back of his hand before meeting his eyes.

“I don’t like this dragon, what’s to say it won’t take us to a watery grave?” He murmured, eyes scanning the uncannily calm waters beneath them as they travelled closer to the drop site for the dragon. 

“It’s been shot with enough dragon root to leave it incapacitated for a few more hours my dear, we’ll be done a fair bit before it should wake up.” Viggo soothed, turning to stare out over on to open water.

“Alright Viggo. You just know how I feel about tidal class dragons.” 

“Yes I know dear.” He gave him a smile. “They’re dangerous and probably cause the most amount of viking deaths because they wreck ships and drown people.”

“We will be done soon Bragi, and then we won’t have to encounter him for a while.” Viggo assured, patting his shoulder gently.

Their moment came, when they heard that the Riders were going to attempt to release the Submaripper from the Straits of Baldur. Bragi kept his eyes on the jewels of Viggo’s strapped to his back, muttering to himself about death and dragons as they approached the straits. Their harrowing escape from the Riders left Bragi feeling foolish, they should have stayed and fight but Ryker demanded that they should abandon ship and run using the seashockers they’d captured.

 

* * *

 

 

The midnight sun affected the dragon hunters a lot less than Bragi was expecting. Viggo allocated the hunters onto shifts, having a section of the island with underground trenches, enough room for a good thirty to forty hunters to get some rest at a time. Viggo however spent most his time in his tent, securing final deals with a few small time buyers. Bragi however, while he spent most of his time trying to avoid the sun, didn’t actually get much sleep

Bragi finished his usual shift on patrol, the sun still high in the sky, shining in place of the moon. Stifling a yawn, he raised his axe above his head to cover his eyes from the sun as he began the long trek back to Viggo’s tent for patrol report, feet dragging over the dirt, kicking up dust. The midnight sun was not something he enjoyed, despite the productivity that ensued from the constant sunlight and lack of sleep. He found that it caused a lot more problems, or in his case, injuries. The bandage on his arm was stark against the reds and blacks of his dragon hunter garb. A hunter had slipped during training and his axe had caught his arm when he lifted his arm over his head while ducking. Viggo had been, incredibly displeased at the hunter, and in the coming days, Bragi didn’t see him again. 

He ducked into Viggo’s tent, grinning when he spotted the man hunched over his table. “Viggo.” Bragi sang out. “Viggo I’ve missed you.” He heard Viggo chuckle before the man sat back in his chair.

“Bragi my dear, I just saw you before you went on patrol.” He turned to look at him, only his smile to drop into something more concerned. “How long has it been since you’ve actually slept?” He pushed his chair back and stood. “Come here love.” He gestured over to him to come closer. 

“Hmm?” Bragi nodded, shuffling his feet over to Viggo. He slid his arms around Viggo’s neck, propping his chin on his shoulder. Viggo chuckled and slid his hands up his back, pressing a soft kiss onto the side of Bragi’s jaw.  “It’s been a couple days.” He murmured.

“Love you need to sleep, don’t get yourself hurt.” He glanced down at the bandage on his arm. “More than you already have been.” 

“But I missed your company.” The Berserker nuzzled his face into Viggo’s shoulder. “You’re always doing your work and worrying about the Riders, it’s so unfair.” He whined against the older man, not wanting to pull away from him. “Spend more time with me, it’s the most productive time of the year for any and all trades, you can take a break can’t you.” The Berserker insisted against Viggo’s armour.

“Bragi, love, you just spent time with me before your patrol, and I need to finish these contracts. How about you get some sleep instead? Hmm?” Viggo tucked his hands between their chests, wiggling away from Bragi before slipping his hands down his arms and grabbing his wrists. He walked them backwards, over to the bed opposite the desk, until the backs of Bragi’s knees hit the bed and he stumbled.

“But Viggo.” He whined, pouting his bottom lip and making it wobble on command. The hunter chuckled, before brushing his thumb over Bragi’s bottom lip.

“Hush now love, after I finish my work I’ll join you. How does that sound?” Viggo made a soothing noise as Bragi tilted his head in thought before nodding enthusiastically. The Berserker flopped backwards onto the bed, letting out a soft noise of comfort as he stretched across the furs, before tucking a pillow under his head and arm. Viggo sighed, smiling down at the bright blue eyes staring up at him.

“Sleep well love, I’ll join you soon.” He promised, before turning over to look at this desk. He sighed once more, glancing back and forth between the desk and the bed before walking over to his work, looking down at the maps and contracts spread out across the wood. He inhaled sharply, before rolling up the maps and contracts and setting them aside. He stretched his arms out over his head, smiling to himself, before glancing over once again to the bed.

Viggo walked over to the bed, shrugging out of his armour and dragonscale tunic, placing both aside neatly before he slid onto the soft furs. He smiled gently when Bragi let out a small snore against his pillow, muttering soft unintelligible words. He tucked his own pillow under the side of his face as he wrapped his arm around the snoring Berserker pulling him close to his side. Maybe Bragi was right, he worked to hard and deserved some time to sleep.

  
  


* * *

 

 

Bragi stood next to Viggo, one of his hands planted at the small of his back as Hiccup was forced to his knees in front of them. The redhead smiled, when Viggo goaded Hiccup, laughing about his failures.

“Bragi, you can’t honestly think that attacking Berk was right, innocent women and children?”

“Did you really think that I’d leave myself so exposed Hiccup.” He nodded over to Bragi. “Bragi, go deal with those pesky dragon riders.” Bragi snorted a laugh, before jogging upstairs as the ship rattled. He pulled his crossbow from his back, spotting Dagur and Fishlegs attacking the boats. He took aim and fired, growling when Dagur dodged out of the way.

“Dagur!” Bragi screamed from the ship, taking aim again, even though it would do no good against the Gronckle he was riding. The riders crawled out of the ship on their dragons. “Don’t let them get away!” He yelled towards the Hunters, glaring at them when they were knocked away easily.

Their failures were becoming, increasingly difficult to deal with. Dagur's realignment with the hunters forced a dramatic shift and change in the men. Most of the Berserkers that followed Bragi out of loyalty were now questioning why he was with Viggo instead of Dagur. A lot of them shifted uneasily when proposed with missions, unsettled and definitely now considering themselves to be out of their depths. Bragi stormed into their shared tent, practically embedding his axe into Viggo's planning board with all the force he could. The older hunter jumped out of the way in surprise, staring at the map that had been sliced in half.

"Bragi." His tone was sharp, wary and stern. "As frustrated as you are can you not take it out on the equipment that I need." He stressed the very end of the sentence as the Berserker huffed, crossing his arms and leaning against a barrel.

“You have the same ten maps Viggo just because I’ve destroyed one doesn’t mean your work has been slowed down.” Bragi was sulking, if Viggo could actually believe his eyes he would tell the whole of the world that his fiercest warrior was in fact sulking, over losing a few skirmishes with the Dragon Riders.

“Just because I have ten maps doesn’t mean you can destroy nine! I have multiples for a reason.” He took a deep breath, gripping the handle of the axe before tossing it aside, away from Bragi. “I need multiple maps for multiple plans, I refuse to make a mess of a solid plan by having to use the same map.”

“Okay but, you can literally go get one of the other eight maps that aren’t destroyed Viggo. It's not like you only have one map left.”

“Bragi I swear to the gods if you’re just going to argue with me today-” Viggo sighed when Bragi interrupted. 

“Everything is against us Viggo. The runes, the gods, none of this is working out and our failures are only proving that” He stopped leaning against the barrel and straightened his back, walking over to Viggo. “All I have seen is that the men are unsettled. Dagurs realignment with the riders has caused more than enough problems and the fact that we have no more gold to actually fund half the missions we have-”

“Bragi If you don't shut your mouth right now I swear-”

“You'll what? Throw me down a whispering death hole?” Bragi looked him in the eyes, lips pressed into a tight line. “I can see the destruction of our empire as plain as day, I’ve dreamt it. Something needs to change Viggo, our methods need to change, before Hiccup and the riders destroy us for good.”  Viggo looked like he was about to argue, but paused, and his expression softened. He pulled away from Bragi, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“You say the runes had showed you the truth.” He muttered, eyes scanning at the map. He pulled out a completely different croll and unfurled it, scanning the page. “What exactly, did they show you?” 

“They showed our empire burning Viggo. They showed us on a different side of a coin, of many coins.” Bagi pressed his hands against Viggo’s chest, curling his fingers against the feel of his armour. “This is our legacy Viggo, but if we can’t keep this, if we don’t fight back with something stronger! Then we will lose everything.”

“Then we find something stronger. That not even Hiccup and his dragon riders can defeat.”  


End file.
